Dallas Cowboys Blog

Cowboys knew OG David Arkin wasn’t NFL ready when they took him in fourth round

The Cowboys will start their third different player of the season at left guard this Sunday.

It won’t be David Arkin. The Cowboys fourth round pick isn’t even part of the discussion. He was passed on the depth chart by seventh round pick Bill Nagy early in camp and is viewed strictly as a player to develop at this stage.

“He just needs to play more,” head coach Jason Garrett said. “He comes from a smaller school (Missouri State). He comes from that environment.

“We had our eyes wide open as to what his developmental process would be, the expectations for a guy like that coming from a smaller school is not to jump in there and play immediately.”

Garrett stressed that does not mean the club is down on his potential.

“There are a lot of things we liked about him intangibly,” Garrett said. “He’s a tough guy, he loves to play football. Physically, we feel like he has the traits as well, but it’s going to be a process.

“Different guys are more NFL ready when they come out and you have to understand what they’re timeline is.”